“a portrait of a punk scene that’s still thriving” - NME 4*

“A sense of joy is palpable” - DIY Magazine

“Those looking to discover new music would be hard-pressed not to find something to love” - Loud & Quiet

“another event in Brockwell park to be remembered in a few decades time” - Louder Than War

Following the enormous success of its debut this September, independent south London festival Wide Awake will return for its second edition in 2022, this time as an expanded two day event across Friday 27th and Saturday 28th of May.

Early bird tickets are available now, starting at £39.50 - buy tickets.

Wide Awake is also pleased to share the first confirmed acts for 2022, including a Friday night headline set from acclaimed electronic act Bicep alongside legendary Saturday headliners Primal Scream, who will play their iconic, era-defining album ‘Screamadelica’ in full. More acts will be announced soon, but for now see the poster below for the full list of exciting independent talent so far.

Topping the bill on the brand new, electronic-focussed Friday festival is Belfast dup Bicep. Famed for their kaleidoscopic sets that encompass house, trance and classic rave sounds coupled with breathtaking light shows, they lead a Friday lineup also including legendary polymath producer Caribou, Leon Vynehall, Elkka and Call Super, with more yet to be announced. Friday’s festival will be programmed over four stages by Bugged Out and Snap Crackle and Pop, as well as south London’s own Corsica Studios, guaranteeing a day packed with some of the best left-field electronic music around.

The Saturday festival will build on the inaugural Wide Awake’s emphasis on the most exciting guitar bands and alternative sounds around, once again partnering with local venue and post-punk revival headquarters The Windmill. Now celebrating 30 years since its release, ‘Screamadelica’ is rightly revered as the defining collision of rock and club cultures and a lasting impact still felt today, continually influencing countless artists to push the envelope in new directions. Fitting then, to have Primal Scream headline Wide Awake by playing the album in full live for the first time in a decade, building on the festival’s tradition of showcasing a heritage band who laid the foundations for the lineup’s younger stars, kickstarted in the 2021 edition by A Certain Ratio and with the late, great Andrew Weatherall originally booked for 2020’s covid-postponed edition.

Saturday’s lineup is star studded with both UK and international acts including Connan Mockasin, Floating Points, The Comet Is Coming, Faye Webster, Overmono, Kevin Morby and many more, with a notably equitable gender split across the whole lineup. The festival will feature six stages curated by independent London promoters Bad Vibrations, LNZRT and SC&P.

True to the independent spirit of the festival, Wide Awake is for the music lover that’s looking for something different. Its second edition will bring together an even bigger array of leftfield, lauded artists you’d be hard pressed to find at any other festival in London. There’s something for everyone: genres span alternative, post-punk, electronica, techno, jazz, and more, united by a progressive streak and proudly independent attitude.

In a saturated London festival market, Wide Awake stands out from the crowd by virtue of its true independence and with an emphasis on quality production, affordability, equity, diversity and environmentalism at its core.

The 2022 festival will also see the continuation of Wide Awake’s ‘Positive Policy’, a set of positive actions taken in an effort to help our ecosystem and change the way in which live music events take responsibility for actions towards our planet.

The Positive Policy recognises that the entertainment industry could do more towards the climate, carbon and air pollution. Wide Awake aims to find solutions that can make festivals carbon neutral, give support to local causes and not create any air pollution.

More information on the policy including a breakdown of the actions taking place to achieve these goals can be found here.

Wide Awake 2022 First Lineup Announcement:

Friday May 27th

Bicep
Alewya
Caribou
Call Super
Elkka
Grove
Leon Vynehall
Loraine James
Louise Chen
Mandy, Indiana
Optimo
Working Men’s Club

• More TBA

Saturday May 28th

Primal Scream Present ‘Screamadelica’
Altin Gün
Automatic
Billy Nomates
Boy Harsher
Chubby & The Gang
Coco Maria
Connan Mockasin
Fat White Family
Fatoumata Diawara
Faye Webster
Floating Points
Kampire
Kevin Morby
Overmono (Live)
Special Interest
Surfbort
Sweeping Promises
The Comet Is Coming
Tropical Fuckstorm
Unschooling
Yard Act

• More TBA